The shrinking road to cross platform computing

They say that once you start using a Mac, you will never go back to Windows again. And I was a big enough of an idiot to believe it. So I prepared myself in the eventuality that I would become a fan boy, and converted all my data to work seamlessly with Apple’s OS X.

A Big Mistake

But then it hit me that there are a lot of things that Apple just can’t or wouldn’t do, and I had to start using Windows once again — at least for almost half of my computing tasks. Vmware Fusion or dual-booting just won’t cut it. I need these two platforms on their own separate machines for my productivity’s sake.

I also realized that the only things which makes me hang on to my Mac is its hardware, iWork Keynote, and how it renders fonts on the screen. The lack of keyboard shortcuts in the Mac is already becoming a big source of frustration, and I crave to once again be able to hit Alt-F to access the File menu.

These practically scream that I am on the brink of another big shift, especially with the looming launch of Windows 7.

I also discovered that I am not, and probably never will be, loyal to a single operating system … and that I would continuously make the change as I see fit.

Shake the fervents

There are probably other users like me who has gone past the Mac is the Greatest brouhaha.

There will probably be more, as we get additional information about Steve Job’s health, and we are reminded of the eventuality of life, and that it’s time to embrace technology & its changes without being hindered by fanaticism.

Others, such as Things, who had been more preoccupied with releasing their iPhone app than fixing the bugs that their users have submitted, and have not included in their roadmap a version for Windows, or even a web-based service to store data, would probably be left being used by their Mac zealots. Or whatever will be left of them in the next 10 years.

The road to cross platform computing is surprisingly not as long as it is perceived it to be. It is right here, right now.

Agreed that Mac OS X can be frustrating at times but for almost anything you can find a free app. Keybrd shortcuts: Spark (http://www.shadowlab.org/Software/spark.php)
And many others… Extending OS X is also SUPER easy using Apple or Linux or Unix fundamentals.

And then there’s the 64-bit roadmap for Adobe. In a shocking turn of events at previous WDDC, Apple dropped development of 64-bit Carbon midstream and gave no alternative but to force Cocoa for large C++ code bases such as Photoshop.

I don’t think that any operating system can be all things to all people. Mac OS X has its strengths, as do Windows and the Linux distros. Certain people can benefit from using only one main operating system, whereas others might need the advantages provided by all of the OSes they use. I love Mac, myself, but others might not.

And I do agree with you that the Mac renders type on the screen really well. I can’t stand to look at Windows font rendering. Microsoft just can’t manage to get it right.